Gators winning without passing the ball, and they don't seem to mind

Wednesday

Oct 17, 2012 at 4:49 AM

Hays Carlyon

GAINESVILLE - Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel makes a good point about Florida's passing game being last in the Southeastern Conference.

The Gators average 145 yards passing a game. That's 17 fewer yards on average than Auburn, the next-to-last team in the SEC in passing. Only six teams out of 120 in the Football Bowl Subdivision have thrown for fewer yards than UF.

"I didn't realize we were last in passing, but we're first in the [SEC] East," Driskel said. "That's all that matters. We're undefeated. We haven't dropped a game yet. If you're winning, everything's all right. Obviously we've got to get better in the passing game, but we're winning games."

The question is can UF's success be sustained with such little productivity from the passing game? The third-ranked Gators (6-0, 5-0) face another test this week as No. 9 South Carolina (6-1, 4-1) visits Gainesville at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. Florida is ranked second in the Bowl Championship Series, while the Gamecocks are seventh.

"I believe you do what it takes to win games," Florida coach Will Muschamp said. "If that means we need to throw it 60 times a game, well let's throw it 60 times. Let's do what we've got to do to win, and that's the most important thing. I do think you need to be able to have a hardness to your program, a physicality to your program, running the football and being able to stop the run."

Driskel has thrown for 138 yards in Florida's last two games. He passed for 61 in Florida's 14-6 win over LSU and had 77 through the air in last Saturday's 31-17 win at Vanderbilt. The last time UF threw for less than 100 yards in consecutive games was back in 1989 during legendary running back Emmitt Smith's final season at the school.

Last season, UF finished 89th in the country in passing (185.7 yards a game). However, that 7-6 team managed to throw for at least 100 yards in every game.

Muschamp and first-year offensive coordinator Brent Pease have been able to cultivate such an effective running game (14th in the nation) that Driskel hasn't needed to air the ball out recently.

Pease admits he cares that the Gators are last in the SEC in passing, but is steadfast in his approach of doing what works.

"I care because you don't want to be last and we talk about balance," Pease said. "But you've got to understand something. There's always give and take and we've got a game plan every game."

Against Vanderbilt, Driskel ran 11 times for 177 yards and three touchdowns on basically the same type of play, which called for a fake or option to standout running back Mike Gillislee. The Commodores continued to focus exclusively on Gillislee. Driskel's yardage was a school record for a quarterback. The 6-foot-4, 237-pound Driskel scored on runs of 37, 13 and 70.

"All of the sudden, we find a couple of plays that we can hit on that they can't adjust to," Pease said. "We stay with that and see if they can find answers to them. They didn't find some answers to a few plays. So whether [Driskel] ends up throwing for 300 or rushing for a record like he does, I don't really care how it gets done as long as we're productive with what we do and score points.

UF took the same approach against LSU. The Gators ran the ball on their final 25 plays of the game, because the Tigers were clearly worn down on defense. UF rushed for 176 yards in the victory, a number skewed by the Gators losing 43 rushing yards on sacks. Gillislee ran for 146 yards against LSU.

"Let's not get greedy here as a coach and say, 'I don't like that, I'm throwing the ball because that's what we all love to do.'" Pease said. "If Jeff can carry the ball 70 yards and outrun everybody, he's getting the ball. If Mike Gillislee can get the ball and outrun everybody, he's getting the ball. And if our O-line blocks like they block, we're giving them the ball. I'm not going to be stubborn as far as playing off numbers every week."

Florida's receivers seem to have no problem with the offensive strategy. After all, it's hard to argue with the final results.

"We're just doing what it takes to win," Florida senior receiver Frankie Hammond Jr. said. "If it's running the ball 40 times and throwing it 10, as long as we get the "W" I can't complain. At the end of the day, we're brought here to win games and win championships and that's what we're trying to do."

hays.carlyon@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4377

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